:00:12. > :00:14.Syria's Prime Minister flees to Jordan - less than two months after
:00:14. > :00:17.he was appointed. Riad Hijab is the most high-profile
:00:17. > :00:25.member of President Assad's regime to defect since the uprising began.
:00:25. > :00:27.His spokesman says he's joining the revolution. Touchdown confirmed.
:00:27. > :00:30.Received on Mars. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
:00:30. > :00:37.Jubiliation as NASA's rover finally lands on Mars and instantly begins
:00:37. > :00:43.sending back images. Curiosity, the most sophisticated Rover ever built,
:00:43. > :00:46.is now on the surface of the Red Planet where it will seek to answer
:00:46. > :00:49.age-old questions about whether life ever existed there on Mars.
:00:49. > :00:51.At the Olympics Team GB is riding high in the medal table. Gymnast
:00:51. > :00:54.Beth Tweddle leads today's hopes of adding to the tally.
:00:54. > :00:57.Moving to America with her family - the Conservative MP Louise Mensch
:00:57. > :01:02.announces she's leaving Parliament, sparking a by-election in her
:01:02. > :01:08.marginal seat. Concern grows for a 12-year-old
:01:08. > :01:12.girl who's been missing from south London for three days.
:01:12. > :01:16.Later on BBC London: the owner of a dog that attacked three police
:01:16. > :01:20.officers is found guilty of owning dangerous animal. A year after
:01:20. > :01:30.rioting swept the capital, police continue to track down those
:01:30. > :01:37.
:01:37. > :01:40.Good afternoon, and welcome to the BBC news at 1.00pm. Syria's newly
:01:40. > :01:46.appointed Prime Minister has fled to Jordan with his family in what's
:01:46. > :01:49.a major blow for President Assad's regime. A spokesman for Riyad Hijab
:01:49. > :01:51.said he had defected from what he called a terrorist regime and
:01:51. > :02:01.joined the revolution. Syrian activist groups say that three
:02:01. > :02:02.
:02:02. > :02:05.other Ministers have also defected, although that's not been confirmed.
:02:05. > :02:08.In a separate development, state television says a bomb has exploded
:02:08. > :02:10.inside its headquarters in Damascus. Several people were injured. Jim
:02:10. > :02:16.Muir sent this report from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon.
:02:16. > :02:20.The start of a dramatic day in Damascus as the crisis deepens - a
:02:20. > :02:25.bomb explosion on the third floor of the state TV and radio building.
:02:25. > :02:27.It caused a lot of superficial damage. Three people were slightly
:02:27. > :02:33.injured, but the station stayed on the air.
:02:33. > :02:36.TRANSLATION: We know who is behind these operations. We know who is
:02:36. > :02:40.funding them. We know who is seeking to silence the people's
:02:40. > :02:47.conscience and voice. We know who wants to destroy this country and
:02:47. > :02:50.hide the truth from the people. Almost immediately, state TV found
:02:50. > :02:54.itself announcing an even bigger bombshell - the Prime Minister,
:02:54. > :03:00.Riyad Hijab, had, it said, been fired. He'd only been appointed
:03:00. > :03:04.exactly two months ago, supposedly a safe fair of hands on the tiller.
:03:04. > :03:08.It now seems clear that the Prime Minister had in fact defected. He's
:03:08. > :03:14.believed to be in a safe place with his family, perhaps in Jordan. He's
:03:14. > :03:18.by far the highest-ranking official so far to desert the Assad regime.
:03:18. > :03:22.It's a deep embarrassment for President Assad. There are rumours
:03:22. > :03:27.other Ministers may follow. TRANSLATION: Today I announce my
:03:27. > :03:30.defection from the regime of killing and terrorism and join the
:03:30. > :03:35.ranks of the revolution of freedom and dignity. From today I announce
:03:35. > :03:39.I am a soldier serving this blessed revolution. Long live Syria free
:03:39. > :03:45.and pure, and long live our Syrian people. Long live our heroic Free
:03:45. > :03:49.Syrian Army. It's the clearest sign yet of the
:03:49. > :03:55.stresses building up within the regime. The focus is currently on
:03:55. > :04:01.Aleppo in the north, the country's biggest city, now being pounded by
:04:01. > :04:05.Government forces as they prepare for an offensive to drive the rebel
:04:05. > :04:09.forces out. Bashar al-Assad's forces will see the defection as
:04:09. > :04:13.evidence the regime is finally starting to crumble from within.
:04:13. > :04:17.I am joined by our diplomatic correspondent James Robbins. Could
:04:17. > :04:20.this be a turning point in Syria? It could be. So many things have
:04:20. > :04:25.been described perhaps as turning point, but I think it's clear
:04:25. > :04:27.evidence that the regime is under even greater pressure than we would
:04:27. > :04:29.have spoken of even yesterday for instance. Let's be clear - the
:04:29. > :04:32.Prime Minister in Syria doesn't have the sort of power that a
:04:32. > :04:35.British Prime Minister would have or a European Prime Minister. He's
:04:35. > :04:38.something of a figurehead, something of a fig leaf, if you
:04:38. > :04:42.like, at the head of a civilian administration where the real power,
:04:42. > :04:45.of course, resides with president Assad, members of his immediate
:04:45. > :04:50.family and the security and military chiefs around him, but the
:04:50. > :04:54.Prime Minister is a very important figurehead, and he was brought in
:04:54. > :04:58.of course to bring some respectability to the regime at a
:04:58. > :05:02.time they were arguing they were pursuing a reform track. He's only
:05:02. > :05:05.been in office for two months, but there are suggestions he was
:05:05. > :05:10.planning his defection even before he took the role of Prime Minister
:05:10. > :05:15.and he was bullied into taking the role. Those accusation come from
:05:15. > :05:18.the Free Syrian Army. Of course, they can't be verified. We can't be
:05:18. > :05:21.clear when he took the decision to leave. But the fact he has done, so
:05:22. > :05:25.the fact he's of the same generation of Bashar al-Assad, he's
:05:25. > :05:29.not one of the old guard - he grew up with the idea that Assad might
:05:29. > :05:31.be a reformer - I think that's significant. James robin, thank you
:05:31. > :05:34.very much. It has taken nine months to travel
:05:34. > :05:37.354 million miles, and this morning the most high-tech rover NASA has
:05:37. > :05:39.ever designed successfully landed the surface of Mars. There were
:05:39. > :05:41.jubiliant scenes at NASA when the rover, called Curiosity, started
:05:41. > :05:44.transmitting pictures immediately. Now that it's safely there,
:05:44. > :05:49.Curiosity's task is to find out whether Mars was ever capable of
:05:49. > :05:54.supporting life. Our science editor David Shukman has the details.
:05:54. > :06:01.The final approach to Mars at 13,000mph. This animation shows how
:06:01. > :06:06.the landing took place - first, the parachute, then at just the right
:06:06. > :06:12.moment, the rockets on a kind of airborne crane fired up and lowered
:06:12. > :06:16.the Rover down towards the surface - $1 billion of machine dangling by
:06:16. > :06:22.a thread. These computer graphics look like science fiction. In fact,
:06:22. > :06:27.this is what really happened. At Mission Control in California,
:06:27. > :06:33.the engineers had been dreading the tension of this moment until two
:06:33. > :06:37.magic words: "Touchdown confirmed." The place erupted, the relief,
:06:37. > :06:40.intense. Eight years of work had gone into this project. The
:06:40. > :06:46.reputation of the American space agency was at stake. Time for a
:06:46. > :06:51.grand statement. Today, right now, the wheels of Curiosity have begun
:06:51. > :06:54.to blaze the trail for human footprints on Mars. Curiosity, the
:06:54. > :06:58.most sophisticated Rover ever built is now on the surface of the Red
:06:58. > :07:02.Planet where it will seek to answer questions about whether life ever
:07:02. > :07:07.existed there on Mars. The Rover's shadow on the dust of Mars, the
:07:07. > :07:10.first pictures prove the landing worked. Mars has been the graveyard
:07:10. > :07:14.for many landing missions. This one succeeded. I want you to look
:07:14. > :07:18.around tonight - all those folks with the blue shirts - think about
:07:18. > :07:22.what we've achieved. I think it's fair to say NASA knows how to
:07:22. > :07:27.explore. We have been exploring, and we're on Mars. The Rover itself
:07:27. > :07:31.is named Curiosity Rover. Something about the Red Planet draws people.
:07:31. > :07:36.At dawn this morning 200 were at the Natural History Museum in
:07:36. > :07:40.London to watch the landing. It was scary, but really exciting at the
:07:40. > :07:44.same time, but when it landed, it was amazing, yeah. It's going to be
:07:44. > :07:49.fantastic science for the next two years. It's what NASA needed. It
:07:49. > :07:51.will be a win for them. The big question about Mars is whether this
:07:51. > :07:55.barren terrain could have ever hosted life. The Rover Curiosity
:07:55. > :07:58.has the job of hunting for the chemical clues about that. It
:07:58. > :08:06.should operate for at least two years - plenty of time to get some
:08:06. > :08:10.answers. The astronomer Mark Thompson joins
:08:10. > :08:13.me now. An absolutely extraordinary achievement. It's an incredibly
:08:13. > :08:17.sophisticated Rover, isn't it, all kinds of things onboard It is. One
:08:17. > :08:21.of the key things about it is it wants to be able to move around the
:08:21. > :08:24.surface of Mars so it can study the rocks. The key to studying the
:08:24. > :08:29.rocks of smars it will hopingly unlock the environmental conditions
:08:29. > :08:32.over the history of Mars. There is spectroscopes. There is all sorts
:08:32. > :08:35.of laser instruments that'll actually be able to look inside the
:08:35. > :08:39.rocks and the soil of Mars to actually study the way the
:08:39. > :08:45.atmosphere has evolved to hopefully the answer question whether life
:08:45. > :08:50.was ever there. All the time those images being transmitted to earth
:08:50. > :08:56.earth? When it touched down this morning it had to go via another
:08:56. > :09:02.Rover orbiting Mars to get it to move. It will go to a different
:09:02. > :09:06.spacecraft to relay back to earth. It will take about 50 minutes for
:09:06. > :09:12.the images to get back, which will be incredible to see. How long do
:09:13. > :09:17.you think it will be before man is able to step on Mars? If I had to
:09:17. > :09:21.bet on it, I would say 50 to a hundred years. It will take an
:09:21. > :09:25.international effort to do that but I think certainly within a hundred
:09:25. > :09:28.years. Thank you very much. To the Olympics now, and there are
:09:28. > :09:31.more medal chances today in athletics, cycling and gymnastics.
:09:31. > :09:35.Great Britain is currently third in the medals table - with a total
:09:35. > :09:37.haul of 37, including 16 gold. So will all this success be translated
:09:37. > :09:39.into a legacy of sporting achievement for Britain's
:09:39. > :09:41.youngsters? This morning the Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt,
:09:41. > :09:44.admitted that school sports provision is patchy in some places
:09:44. > :09:51.at the moment and said more investment at primary school level
:09:51. > :09:54.was needed. Our sports correspondent Andy Swiss reports.
:09:54. > :09:58.Jessica Ennis is the Olympic champion.
:09:58. > :10:02.It was the weekend when British sport discovered the Midas touch.
:10:02. > :10:11.We have done it. We have done it, and we have done it in style.
:10:11. > :10:15.days, eight gold medals and hopefully millions inspired. It's
:10:15. > :10:21.gold! From athletics to rowing to sailing to cycling, all the fears
:10:21. > :10:25.Team GB would buckle under the pressure proved gloriously
:10:25. > :10:32.unfounded, a roll call of success beyond their wildest dreams. Oh, my
:10:32. > :10:35.goodness! Just remarkable. Among them, Andy Murray, last month, he
:10:35. > :10:39.lost in the Wimbledon final, but that frustration turned to elation,
:10:39. > :10:45.from the fans to the stars - it seems everyone has been inspired by
:10:45. > :10:50.these Games. I think it's just - I mean, being part of the Olympics to
:10:50. > :10:53.the success of the other athletes and watching that and, you know,
:10:53. > :10:59.being inspired by that and wanting to try and be part of the medal
:10:59. > :11:05.tally and, you know, try and contribute to the team.
:11:05. > :11:09.But can British sport now make the most of this golden opportunity,
:11:09. > :11:15.neurturing young talents like teenager Adam, who reached the
:11:15. > :11:17.semis, costs money. There are fierce school sport is being
:11:17. > :11:21.squeezed. The head of the Olympic Association accused the government
:11:21. > :11:24.of treading water, and they admit more needs to be dope. I think at
:11:24. > :11:28.the moment school sport provision is patchy in some places, and we
:11:28. > :11:30.need to do what we can to ensure that the very best examples are
:11:30. > :11:34.spread throughout the whole country, and this is absolutely going to be
:11:34. > :11:38.a focus over the next few months, and one of the things we really
:11:38. > :11:48.want to take away from these games. But one thing everyone will take
:11:48. > :11:51.away is this - the memory of Usain Bolt once again leading the world's
:11:51. > :11:58.marathon. So can Britain's athletes scale
:11:58. > :12:02.those dizzy heights today? This morning's heat saw some success.
:12:02. > :12:05.Tiffany Porter qualified for the semifinals of the hurdles while a
:12:05. > :12:11.delighted Lawrence Okoye is into the discus final. The question now
:12:11. > :12:13.is can these stars of the present inspire the stars of the future?
:12:14. > :12:16.Liz Nicholl is Chief Executive of UK Sport, the body that's
:12:16. > :12:19.responsible for investing around �100 million of public funds every
:12:19. > :12:24.year in high-performance sport - money that comes from both the
:12:24. > :12:29.National Lottery and the Exchequer. Did you honestly think that a week
:12:29. > :12:33.ago - did you think that we would be in the position we're in at the
:12:33. > :12:39.moment? I think we got off to a slow start over the first couple of
:12:39. > :12:42.days but our ambition was to do better than Beijing, so we had to
:12:42. > :12:47.be ahead of the game. We're ahead of where we were in Beijing, and
:12:47. > :12:52.we're looking at winning more medals across more sports. We're in
:12:52. > :12:56.a very, very good place. Team GB has already delivered on so many
:12:56. > :13:02.levels but it does make you wonder what more could be achieved if more
:13:02. > :13:06.money was pumped into schools at an earlier level? The success of any
:13:06. > :13:09.high-performance system depends on the right level of investment from
:13:09. > :13:12.grassroots through the community to the League level. We can provide
:13:12. > :13:16.those inspirational moments through the success of the athletes in
:13:16. > :13:20.order to inspire the youngsters, but we do have to invest in schools,
:13:20. > :13:26.in teachers, in coaches, in talent and to achieve that success.
:13:26. > :13:29.how much more investment are we looking about at an earlier stage?
:13:29. > :13:35.That's an area of response about that doesn't fall within our remit
:13:36. > :13:38.at UK Sport, so that's matter for those who have it. It needs quite a
:13:38. > :13:41.significant turnaround, doesn't it? The most important thing is to
:13:41. > :13:46.provide great opportunities for youngsters when they see these
:13:46. > :13:49.inspirational moments to be able to go down to their local gym to be
:13:49. > :13:53.the next Beth Tweddle to get access easily to great support, great
:13:53. > :13:59.coaches and teachers in primary school able to have the right
:13:59. > :14:03.talent to be able to support that - those youngsters. That's the long
:14:03. > :14:06.term. In the short term, let's hope we see a few more medals rolling in.
:14:06. > :14:10.Let's speak to a prime example of Team GB's success - the cyclist
:14:10. > :14:14.Joanna Rowsell who won gold in the team pursuit on Saturday.
:14:14. > :14:18.Good afternoon, and congratulations. Has it actually sunk in yet?
:14:18. > :14:20.thank you. Yeah, it feels absolutely amazing. It's just
:14:20. > :14:25.starting to sink in now for me seeing the newspapers yesterday and
:14:25. > :14:27.today - seeing all the photos that really helped it all sink in. Yeah,
:14:27. > :14:32.it feels great. What is the atmosphere like in the Athletes'
:14:32. > :14:35.Village at the moment with all of this success for Team GB? It's an
:14:35. > :14:39.incredible atmosphere. Once all the golds start coming in, everyone
:14:39. > :14:41.wants to be part of that. Hopefully that success will continue for the
:14:42. > :14:45.next week. We have been talking about investment in sport and
:14:45. > :14:50.helping a lot of young hopeful athletes achieve the sort of
:14:50. > :14:53.success that you have achieved. How much has the investment helped your
:14:54. > :14:58.sport? It has been absolutely essential for me. I have received
:14:58. > :15:04.Lottery funding since I left school after my A-Levels. That allowed me
:15:04. > :15:07.to be a full-time athlete and commit a hundred percent of my
:15:07. > :15:09.training. We have the best support staff in the world, the best
:15:09. > :15:13.coaches and sports scientists. We wouldn't be Olympic champions
:15:13. > :15:18.without all of that. What about the cycling team this week - today,
:15:18. > :15:26.tomorrow - more medal hopes? Yes, we have Jason Kenny and Victoria
:15:26. > :15:36.Pendleton in the women's sprint. They set records in equal fight, so
:15:36. > :15:38.
:15:38. > :15:43.that should be excellent. I am This afternoon the three-times
:15:43. > :15:46.world champion Beth Tweddle makes her last big to win an elusive and
:15:46. > :15:50.a bit muddled. Later, I will speak to her anxious parents, who are
:15:50. > :15:53.waiting to watch her at the North Greenwich Arena.
:15:53. > :15:56.Our top story this lunchtime: the Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab
:15:57. > :16:01.has fled to Jordan with his family less than two months after he was
:16:01. > :16:03.appointed. He is the most high- profile member of President Assad's
:16:03. > :16:08.regime to defect since the uprising began.
:16:08. > :16:14.Come On Up: how on earth did they do that? We will find out how some
:16:14. > :16:17.of the best Olympic Games camera shops make it onto your TV screens.
:16:17. > :16:24.Later on BBC London, Lawrence Okoye goes for gold with an impressive
:16:24. > :16:27.for to qualify for the discus final. At helping athletes fulfil their
:16:27. > :16:34.2012 dreams - the woman who finally found work building their beds in
:16:34. > :16:37.the Olympic village. The Conservative MP, Louise Mensch,
:16:38. > :16:41.is to leave Parliament after just two and a half years in the job.
:16:41. > :16:44.She and her children are moving to America, where her husband lives.
:16:44. > :16:47.She said she was devastated by the necessary decision she had had to
:16:47. > :16:55.make. Her resignation has prompted a by-election in her marginal Corby
:16:55. > :16:59.seat. Let's speak to our political correspondent. It is their decision
:16:59. > :17:03.that has taken many by surprise? Yes, Louise Mensch made it clear
:17:03. > :17:08.that she could no longer cope with the struggle of combining her role
:17:08. > :17:12.as a mother of three young children and a high-profile MP, particularly
:17:12. > :17:18.with her husband being based in New York. So that is where she will
:17:18. > :17:21.move to keep her family together. Louise Mensch is someone who is a
:17:21. > :17:24.very high-profile MP here at Westminster, but also one of the
:17:24. > :17:30.few who is widely known and recognised beyond the Westminster
:17:30. > :17:35.village. She has 100,000 followers on Twitter. She is a former author.
:17:35. > :17:40.She is a glamourous and outspoken politician. And although not all of
:17:40. > :17:43.her colleagues enjoyed having such a high profile colleague,
:17:43. > :17:47.Westminster will be a less colourful place without her. The
:17:47. > :17:52.Prime Minister clearly had her in mind for promotion. He made that
:17:52. > :17:56.clear in his response to her resignation letter. He said he was
:17:56. > :18:01.disappointed that she had had to leave, which sounded heartfelt,
:18:01. > :18:04.because he now faces a difficult by-election later this autumn.
:18:04. > :18:09.are expecting another announcement in Westminster this afternoon, this
:18:09. > :18:14.time on Lords reform? Yes, yet another headache for the Prime
:18:14. > :18:18.Minister, because he has had to tell his deputy Nick Clegg that his
:18:18. > :18:22.conservative MPs will not support for the plans for reform of the
:18:22. > :18:26.House of Lords, which would have a largely elected second chamber.
:18:26. > :18:30.This is very much the darling of Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime
:18:30. > :18:35.Minister. In the next hour, he will have to accept that his plans for
:18:35. > :18:40.overhauling the second chamber will be added to that rather dusty pile
:18:40. > :18:45.of previous attempts to change the House of Lords. It was clear that
:18:45. > :18:49.the plans were in trouble. 91 Tory MPs rebelled. An attempt to set a
:18:49. > :18:53.timetable to get the legislation through Parliament had to be
:18:53. > :18:57.scrapped. There will be a lot of anger among Lib Dems, who might
:18:57. > :19:01.respond by trying to scupper the plans to change constituency
:19:01. > :19:04.boundaries of MPs. That in turn will anger Conservative MPs. So a
:19:04. > :19:07.lot of ill-feeling between the coalition partners.
:19:07. > :19:10.Police in the American state of Wisconsin are describing the deaths
:19:10. > :19:14.of six people at a Sikh temple as an act of "domestic terrorism". The
:19:14. > :19:16.gunman was shot dead by police after the attack in Oak Creek, near
:19:16. > :19:26.Milwaukee. President Obama has sent condolences to the victims'
:19:26. > :19:27.
:19:27. > :19:32.families. This is how Sunday morning prayers
:19:32. > :19:35.ended at a Sikh temple near Milwaukee. The emergency services
:19:35. > :19:39.called after a gunman started shooting at the congregation.
:19:39. > :19:43.Inside the temple, women and children were hiding in cupboards.
:19:43. > :19:49.Others took refuge in the bathroom, and send text messages to their
:19:49. > :19:56.family members about what was happening. The situation is
:19:56. > :20:00.terrible. The people who are contacting us, they are scared and
:20:00. > :20:04.they are speaking very softly, like they cannot speak louder.
:20:04. > :20:09.injured were taken to hospital with bullet wounds to the abdomen, face
:20:09. > :20:15.and neck. A police officer is amongst those being treated.
:20:15. > :20:20.officers responded to the scene. They found a victim. We are dealing
:20:20. > :20:25.with that individual. When our officer, a 20-year-old ambushed --
:20:25. > :20:30.veteran, was ambushed and shot. He is currently undergoing surgery. We
:20:30. > :20:32.expect him to recover. The police have not revealed the identity of
:20:32. > :20:38.the gunmen or a motor for the attack. There have been no reports
:20:38. > :20:46.of threats made against the temple. It is very sad when these things
:20:46. > :20:53.happen. It is unexpected. We never think this will happen to our
:20:53. > :20:56.temple, because the people go there to pray for everybody. But
:20:56. > :21:01.unfortunately, this happened and it is sad. President Obama said he was
:21:01. > :21:04.deeply saddened by what had happened. He said America had been
:21:04. > :21:07.enriched by the Sikh community. This is the second time in recent
:21:07. > :21:12.weeks that the president has had to console the country after a
:21:12. > :21:17.shooting. Just over two weeks ago, a man opened fire on a cinema in
:21:17. > :21:20.Colorado, killing 12 people. The final member of staff caught on
:21:20. > :21:24.camera abusing patients at a care home near Bristol has pleaded
:21:25. > :21:27.guilty. Michael Ezenagu, seen here wearing a hat, admitted two charges
:21:27. > :21:32.of ill-treating a resident at Winterbourne View, a private
:21:32. > :21:37.hospital which housed people with learning difficulties and autism.
:21:37. > :21:39.11 staff have now pleaded guilty to offences against patients.
:21:39. > :21:44.Police are increasingly concerned about the welfare of a 12-year-old
:21:44. > :21:46.girl who has not been seen since Friday. Tia Sharp has made no
:21:46. > :21:51.contact with her friends or family since leaving her grandmother's
:21:51. > :22:01.home in south London to go shopping in Croydon. Our correspondent is
:22:01. > :22:02.
:22:02. > :22:06.near her grandmother's home in New Addington now.
:22:06. > :22:10.Tia left her grandmother's home on this road in south London around
:22:10. > :22:14.lunchtime on Friday and has not been seen or heard from since. She
:22:14. > :22:18.did not take her mobile phone or any kind of travelcard with her,
:22:18. > :22:22.and had just a small amount of cash with her. She told her grandmother
:22:22. > :22:28.she was offered to buy shoes at a shopping centre in Croydon, but no
:22:28. > :22:33.one has seen her since then. Her family say this is not like her.
:22:33. > :22:37.She had never gone missing before. In terms of the police
:22:37. > :22:41.investigation, there are focusing on three areas. They are talking to
:22:41. > :22:45.neighbours here to see if they saw anything over the weekend. They are
:22:45. > :22:48.continuing to examine CCTV footage to see if there are any sightings
:22:48. > :22:51.of Tia there, and they are examining her use of social media
:22:51. > :22:54.to see if that throws up any clues as to her whereabouts.
:22:54. > :22:57.More on the Olympics now. Britain's most successful gymnast, the three-
:22:57. > :23:01.times world champion Beth Tweddle, makes her last bid to win an
:23:01. > :23:04.elusive Olympic medal. Beth's going for gold in the uneven bars at 2.50
:23:04. > :23:08.this afternoon. She is looking to improve on her fourth place in
:23:08. > :23:16.Beijing. We can now talk to Beth's parents, Jerry and Ann, who are at
:23:16. > :23:20.the North Greenwich Arena. I always wonder how difficult it must be as
:23:20. > :23:27.a parent to watch your child go through something like this. Jerry,
:23:27. > :23:32.how nervous are you? Not as nervous as normal. There has been such a
:23:32. > :23:36.groundswell of support. Lots of people here. And of course, the
:23:36. > :23:42.gymnastics has been going well. The lads have done brilliantly, and the
:23:42. > :23:46.girls also had the highest team placing. And the Beth, this is her
:23:46. > :23:50.last chance to get an Olympic medal. She came fourth in Beijing. How is
:23:51. > :23:55.she dealing with it? Is she taking it in her stride? Were don't have
:23:55. > :23:59.much contact with her during competition time, but I spoke to
:23:59. > :24:06.her briefly yesterday and she is very cool and calm. She is prepared.
:24:06. > :24:11.She is reading and listening to music. She is fine. She stands a
:24:11. > :24:17.very good chance of a medal, if not gold. She qualified first. We don't
:24:17. > :24:25.mind which medal it is. She doesn't mind. If she goes through the
:24:25. > :24:30.routine, yes, she does it stand a chance. And Jerry, the British
:24:30. > :24:35.gymnasts at this Olympics have done amazingly well. They have a. And
:24:35. > :24:39.that is a result of all the support, the lottery funding and the
:24:39. > :24:44.coaching development. It has been brilliant. The medical support has
:24:44. > :24:49.really helped Beth recently when she needed it. It was fantastic. It
:24:49. > :24:52.has given her a chance. I will let you both take your seats. Let's
:24:52. > :24:54.hope she comes away with a medal this afternoon.
:24:54. > :24:57.At Greenwich Park, the equestrian competition resumes, with Saudi
:24:57. > :25:00.Arabia leading the standings in the team showjumping. There are four
:25:00. > :25:08.countries in joint second position, including Team GB. Our sports
:25:08. > :25:13.correspondent is there. You may recall that Great Britain
:25:13. > :25:17.have already won one medal in equestrian, in team eventing, which
:25:17. > :25:22.is like a triathlon, a combination of three disciplines. Today is all
:25:22. > :25:25.about one of those disciplines, showjumping. It is a team event.
:25:25. > :25:29.There are four British riders and the scores of the top three will go
:25:29. > :25:34.towards the final tally. It is all about avoiding penalty points and
:25:34. > :25:38.getting over the fences as quickly and cleanly as possible. Great
:25:38. > :25:43.Britain are in joint second place. That is in no small part down to
:25:43. > :25:48.Nick Skelton, 54 years old. He has done everything in his career apart
:25:48. > :25:52.from winning an Olympic medal. He has been on sparkling form so far.
:25:52. > :25:56.Maybe he has finally got the best horse of his career. You may be
:25:57. > :26:01.surprised to see the name of Saudi Arabia up in top gold medal
:26:01. > :26:06.position as we go into today's final round. King Abdullah has
:26:06. > :26:09.thrown millions into it since 2009. And the team includes his son.
:26:10. > :26:13.Equestrian money is clearly important. If you can buy the best
:26:13. > :26:17.horses, you have a strong chance, but there is no substitute for
:26:17. > :26:21.experience. The Canadian team today includes Ian Millar in a record-
:26:21. > :26:24.breaking tenth Olympics. He is going strong at the age of 65.
:26:24. > :26:27.If you have been watching the Olympics on TV, and record numbers
:26:27. > :26:31.here and around the world have been doing just that, there is every
:26:31. > :26:33.chance that at some point, you have wondered "how on earth did they get
:26:33. > :26:36.that shot?". Well, Clive Myrie has been given exclusive behind-the-
:26:36. > :26:43.scenes access to discover how some of the most stunning images of
:26:43. > :26:50.sport ever captured have made it on to your screen.
:26:50. > :26:55.Remember this? Camera angles that took the public right inside the
:26:55. > :26:59.world of Tom Daley and Pete Waterfield. The London Olympics
:26:59. > :27:03.have provided viewers with some memorable images. We were given
:27:03. > :27:08.exclusive access to the men and machines behind the pictures of the
:27:08. > :27:12.Games. Deep in the bowels of the Aquatics Centre is a whole other
:27:12. > :27:18.underwater world cameras, Polly's and remote controls. These cameras
:27:18. > :27:24.catch everything, a fish-eye view of the action. Scott Stevens lowers
:27:24. > :27:29.into position one of them, ready to record the battle for gold medals
:27:29. > :27:33.from a different perspective. brings the viewer closer to the
:27:33. > :27:39.athletes than they have been before. From underneath, you get a better
:27:39. > :27:42.idea of some of the techniques, some of the breathing, the turns,
:27:42. > :27:46.or that sort of stuff. Just a handful of people get the
:27:46. > :27:50.opportunist to watch all the action from down here. Up Close and
:27:50. > :27:54.Personal, with the swimmers and divers. But thanks to all the
:27:54. > :28:01.camera technology in the pool, millions of others can get up close
:28:01. > :28:05.and personal, too. And above the waves, 7.5 metres, to be exact, I
:28:05. > :28:12.have shown an aluminium glass tube containing a camera at the end of a
:28:12. > :28:17.rope. And I got the chance to use it. It's incredible. It is just a
:28:17. > :28:23.camera on the end of a rope, but it gives an incredible view of the
:28:24. > :28:27.action. It is not just the Aquatics Centre, where ever more ingenious
:28:27. > :28:31.ways have been found to record the games. In the Olympic Stadium,
:28:32. > :28:36.cameras are mounted on wires. They track the runners from the side,
:28:36. > :28:40.step-by-step. One floats in a balloon. The aim is to take the
:28:41. > :28:50.viewer where the athlete is, from the top of the diving board to the
:28:51. > :28:53.
:28:53. > :28:56.Now the weather. Hour by hour this morning, we have been watching the
:28:56. > :29:00.clouds continue to fill the sky in London. It is looking threatening
:29:00. > :29:06.at the moment, and we will see big showers not just at the Olympic
:29:06. > :29:09.Park, but widely across the British Isles. We can pick up where those
:29:09. > :29:14.showers have been on the radar picture, with nasty clumps across
:29:14. > :29:18.northern England, the South of Scotland, Wales and the south-west
:29:18. > :29:22.of England. Those showers track eastwards during today. We could
:29:22. > :29:27.see a shower at the sailing. But the worst of the showers may stay
:29:27. > :29:31.just inland in Dorset. You will see big clouds on the footage, but it
:29:31. > :29:36.might stay dry for the sailors. At the equestrian events in Greenwich,
:29:36. > :29:40.there's the risk of an odd shower. Those showers may turn heavy at
:29:40. > :29:44.Greenwich and at the Olympic Park, with the big showers turning up
:29:44. > :29:48.after three this afternoon. The showers could be beefy and nature.
:29:48. > :29:53.Thunderstorms are likely to grow up later, but the worst showers will
:29:53. > :29:57.pass through the across England and Wales, and then the weather should
:29:57. > :30:01.become dry. It has been a cloudy morning in Northern Ireland. We
:30:01. > :30:07.have limited bright spells here, but for most places, it stays dry.
:30:07. > :30:12.Some dry weather for the south and west of Scotland, but it looks
:30:12. > :30:16.unsettled in the east. There are torrential downpours here, which
:30:16. > :30:20.also affect the East of England. Showers are in the forecast for the
:30:20. > :30:24.Olympic Park and also at the Riverbank Arena, where we are
:30:24. > :30:28.likely to see downpours developing through the course of the day as
:30:28. > :30:32.Team GB's women take on the champions, the Netherlands. Showers
:30:32. > :30:37.are forecast at the Olympic Park, so anyone heading to this evening's
:30:37. > :30:41.session, it is worth bringing wet weather gear with you. Tonight, the
:30:41. > :30:45.showers will gradually fade away. Most places will become dry through
:30:45. > :30:49.the night and it will stay relatively mild. By the end of the
:30:49. > :30:54.night, the cloud will thicken across south-west England and
:30:54. > :30:59.outbreaks of rain are forecast to end the night. The rain band will
:30:59. > :31:04.spread along the south coast of England, threatening outbreaks of
:31:04. > :31:08.rain towards the late afternoon and evening tomorrow. There will be a
:31:08. > :31:11.few showers across eastern areas of England and Scotland, with the
:31:11. > :31:16.driest weather generally across north-western parts of the country.